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Good Job, Trump Supporters! - December 2024 Recap [1]
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Date: 2025-01-03
Welcome back to my second installment of “Good Job, Trump Supporters” where I summarize all the previous month’s Trumpian dipshittery. (You can read the first one here.) It’s a long one, so let’s dive in.
Inflation
A lot of people voted for Trump because they believed Trump would put an end to inflation, probably because he repeatedly promised to:
Trump in August: “From the day I take the oath of office, we’ll rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again. Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down and they’ll come down fast.”
Trump the day before the election: “A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.”
Trump one month later: “I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
Most presidents at least wait until they’re in office to start breaking campaign progress, but then again most presidents don’t have a cult following that enjoys being screwed over and lied to by their beloved leader. No doubt MAGA will decide that the high prices are patriotic now that a Republican is at the helm.
Of course anyone with even the most basic economic understanding knows that you can’t simultaneously raise tariffs (import taxes) and bring prices down. You also can’t deport millions of low-paid workers and expect prices to go down either. But choosing fantasy over reality has always been the hallmark of Trumpism.
According to a report from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, Trump’s deportation plans could result in the loss of “1.5 million workers in the construction industry, 225,000 from agriculture, 1 million from hospitality, 870,000 from manufacturing, and 461,000 from transportation…The study also showed that deportation of 8 million migrants would result in a 7.4% reduction in US GDP over the next four years, which would be a severe recession right on the borderline of a depression.” In a rare case of justice in politics, the rural voters who are Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters will bear the brunt of his policies.
Transgender Rights
Another major plank of the Republicans 2024 strategy was attacks on transgender rights. The GOP spent $215 million on trans attack ads, which is around $134 per trans person in the United States.
Surely this must be an existential crisis or historic proportions! It couldn’t just be cynical hate-mongering against a vulnerable minority to distract voters from actual issues, right?
Per Heather Cox Richardson, “When [a] journalist asked Trump about the current attempt of Republican lawmakers to force transgender women to use men’s bathrooms, Trump indicated he didn’t really want to talk about it, noting that ‘it’s a very small number of people we’re talking about, and it’s ripped apart our country.’ Caitlyn Jenner, who is herself transgender, is a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago and has indicated she uses the women’s bathroom there.”
So, someone who is open about who they are is a big, scary problem. Someone who lies about who they are and what they believe constantly: presidential. Got it.
More on Political Appointees
I tried to cover Trump’s cabinet appointees as well as I could last time, but the bodies never stop surfacing in Trump Harbor.
Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oversee the Food and Drug Administration. One of RFK’s lawyers, Aaron Siri, has tried to stop the distribution of 13 different vaccines, including petitioning the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022. In a plot too stupid to be scripted, the person who may soon be in charge of our country’s health and well-being wants to bring back polio.
This is what happens when you let the chicken-f***ers guard the henhouse. When Trump was asked whether he believes the extremely debunked theory that vaccines cause autism, he replied with his usual directness: “So something is wrong. Something’s wrong. And we’re going to find out about it.” Not much new on Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to Secretary of Defense. But, notably, after Newsmax host Greg Kelly dared to criticize the nomination, Trump intervened and now Newsmax hosts can only sing Hegseth’s praises. Similarly, from Ron Filipkowski, “Sen. Markwayne Mullin told Fox today that if [Iowa] Sen. Joni Ernst votes against Pete Hegseth then she should be primaried. Ernst served in combat as a Lt. Colonel and was also a victim of sexual assault, which is the basis of her objection to Hegseth. And the reason why she is being threatened by MAGA for being squeamish.” Funny how liberals are sheep but any Republican who doesn’t conform in their entirety risks banishment and abuse. I’ve lost count of just how many people in Trump’s orbit have been credibly accused of abusing women, but it’s starting to seem like a requirement for entry. Speaking of which, since the House Ethics Committee finally released their report on Matt Gaetz we know that…well, pretty much everything we assumed is true. Again, from Ron Filipkowski, “Gaetz paid 12 different women a total of over $90,000 for sex during several years, which included a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where witnesses testified that he was on ecstasy and had sex with four women…The committee said it also received testimony that in 2017, Gaetz twice had sex with ‘Victim A,’ who was 17 years old at the time and had just completed her junior year in high school: ‘Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Rep. Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex.’…The bipartisan committee found by substantial evidence that Gaetz engaged in statutory rape of a high school junior girl, engaged in illicit drug use, took improper gifts, and obstructed the congressional investigation.” The important thing here is not the Matt Gaetz is a creep — we all already knew that. Nor is it the fact that Trump would nominate someone so corrupt to the highest law-enforcement position in the country: in his world, it’s a feature not a bug because giving big favors to undeserving people leaves them owing you big time. No, the more important story is how many Republicans in Congress tried to keep this report from being released to cover for their colleague. The party that obsesses about drag queens, “groomers,” and banning explicit books was more than happy to support statutory rape just as long as that rapist had an (R) after their name. (Wait a sec…is that what the “R” stands for?) Of course, they also just elected a president who openly bragged about being a sexual predator, including “inspecting” the Miss Teen USA pageant when the girls, some as young as 15, were dressing. I guess “family values” means daddy gets to do what he wants and everyone else covers for him. Just as long as he doesn’t put on a dress. Trump financier and world-renowned dipshit, Elon Musk, has threatened to use his massive wealth to punish any Senators who vote against Trump’s nominees. Ron Filipkowski writes: “So the position every Republican in Congress now finds themselves in is that they must vote for every single thing that Trump wants, and if they ever disagree with him on anything their entire political movement will crush their career and make their life hell. It’s authoritarianism in a form we haven’t quite seen before, but it is still very much authoritarianism.” Welcome to the oligarchy. Also, Trump nominated Herschel Walker as Ambassador to the Bahamas. Enough said. And a quick nepotism roundup: Trump chose his son’s ex-fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to be ambassador to Greece shortly after Don Jr. was seen in public with a different woman. Trump also pushed hard for his daughter-in-law Lara to be appointed as Florida’s Senator after Marco Rubio becomes Secretary of State; the fact that she since withdrew her name suggests that Ron DeSantis is not yet ready to play nice with the president-to-be. Trump also chose his daughter Tiffany’s father-in-law, Massad Boulos, to be his Middle East advisor. To be fair, I don’t think this is entirely the result of Trump caring about his family. I just honestly don’t think there are all that many other people left who are willing to work with him. Maybe it has something to do with how all of his allies seem to end up bankrupt, in jail, or (worst of all) on Cameo.
Foreign Intrigue
Eric Trump recently announced that the Trump Organization has made a deal to build a new Trump Tower in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Per Heather Cox Richardson, “When asked about potential conflicts of interest, Eric Trump said: ‘I have no interaction with Washington, D.C. I want no interaction with Washington, D.C.’” I dunno…Eric’s dad refusing to talk to him actually seems somewhat plausible…
Cox continues, “So far, there has been little outcry over Eric Trump’s announcement, despite years of stories focusing on Republicans’ claims that Hunter Biden and President Biden had each taken $5 million from the Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat. Yesterday the key witness behind that accusation, Alexander Smirnov, pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI and hiding the more than $2 million he received after that testimony.” A foreign nation funneling tens of millions of dollars to an American president…what could go wrong! While I cringe as I type this, I agree with Tulsi Gabbard (ugh) who said back in 2018, “Hey Donald Trump, being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not America First.”
Following the dramatic fall of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, Trump was asked if he would ask his friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin, to give up Assad to the International Criminal Court. His response: “I think we may have to move on with our lives.” No such luck for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians tortured and murdered during Assad’s reign.
MAGA celebrity Tucker Carlson, in an interview on the topic, asked, “Why am I supposed to hate Assad? He’s just an eye doctor from London. He’s protected Christians.” Except, you know, for the ones had raped, tortured, and executed in dungeons. More and more, Republican leadership seems to be defined by toxic masculinity that equates cruelty with strength, which would be pathetic if they didn’t hold so much power.
Separately, when Trump was asked if he had spoken with Putin since the election he replied, “I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you. It’s just inappropriate.” So, yes, obviously. Meanwhile, President Musk has endorsed Germany’s neo-Nazi party, posting “Only the AfD can save Germany.” In the words of Senator Chris Murphy, “The AfD’s [Alternative für Deutschland’s] mission is to rehabilitate the image of the Nazi movement. One leader’s license plate is an open tribute to Hitler. A top AfD official said about migrants, ‘We can always shoot them later, or gas them.’ Another described Judaism as the ‘inner enemy’ in Germany.” Notably, Trump spent Election Day with members of AfD at Mar-a-Lago.
Funding the Government
Likely the biggest story of the past month was the unelected President Musk’s attempt to shut down the U.S. government over a bill that would have restricted his ability to do business in China. Per Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, “Trump, and the man he tapped to police government spending, Elon Musk, killed a painstakingly negotiated, bipartisan spending package at the 11th hour, sending the federal government hurtling toward a Christmas shutdown — which would be the first time the government is forced to turn out the lights since, well, the last time Trump was in charge.”
Musk’s attack on the bill was driven by deliberate misinformation, “including claims that the bill included a 40 percent pay increase for Congress (in actuality, a cost-of-living adjustment of no more than 3.8 percent); a $3 billion giveaway for an NFL stadium in D.C. (it included no money for the stadium); an ‘outrageous’ provision blocking a probe of the Jan. 6 investigative committee; and another provision ‘funding bioweapon labs’ (both false).”
Congress obediently revamped the bill, removing food assistance, a measure to decrease prescription costs, a bill to combat junk fees, a measure to criminalize revenge porn, and millions in funding for childhood cancer research. At Trump’s request, they also added a provision to raise the debt ceiling, presumably to clear the way for Trump’s planned tax breaks for the wealthy. This second bill was quickly shot down in the House.
A third version, almost identical to the original, finally passed at the last minute, and all sides claimed a great victory. As the new bill cost nearly the same as the original, the overall spending seems not to have been the primary concern so much as Musk’s desire to move more jobs to China and Trump’s goal of funding tax breaks for his funders. Heather Cox Richardson writes, “The fiasco of the past few days is a political blow to Trump. Musk overshadowed him, and when Trump demanded that Republicans free him from the debt ceiling, they ignored him.”
This would all be par for the course as far as political disfunction goes except for the fact that an unelected billionaire is now calling the shots in Washington, with elected Congressmen responding to and obeying Musk’s tweets in real time. I think we all expected the oligarchy to be significantly more subtle when it arrived in full. For now, there can be little question that money matters more than votes in the United States government.
MAGA Divided
Conflict has already broken out between the working-class voters who put Trump back in office and the billionaires who footed the bill for his campaign. Short version: the billionaires want to increase the number of foreign workers in the tech industry while MAGA voted for Trump precisely to oppose such immigration and protect American workers.
Even though thousands of tech workers were laid off in the past year who could fill tech jobs, immigrants coming to the country on H-1B visas can be paid lower wages and risk being deported if they displease their employer and get fired, which his why many refer to the program as indentured servitude. Musk’s companies are some of the biggest users of H-1B visas, and he was applying for thousands of them even while laying off American workers.
As Steve Bannon (cringe again) said on his show, “At the end of the day, they simply do not want to pay American wages for American jobs. They want to pay Indian wages for Indian workers in American jobs, and that’s a disgrace.” (Coming from Bannon, this is definitely as racist as it sounds, but for fact’s sake, over 70% of these visas are given to Indian nationals.) In the words of “former Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie: “H1B isn’t about talent — it’s about cost-cutting. Tech companies hire cheap labor, shifting costs like green cards and chain migration onto taxpayers. It’s a scam that privatizes profits and socializes costs. If they paid the true price, they wouldn’t want H1Bs.” When MAGA protested this betrayal, Ben Meiselas writes, “Musk, Vivek, and tech-bro MAGA essentially responded by calling the white MAGA base a bunch of stupid idiots who are innately too dumb to do these jobs or even learn to do them. Vivek said they come from a ‘culture of mediocrity.’” Ron Filipkowski writes, “Essentially, their message was that there just aren’t enough smart Americans who have the work ethic to satisfy the Tech Bros, so those migrants should be allowed to come into the country to work for them while we mass deport the others who are working in the construction, agriculture, food processing and hospitality industries, where they fill jobs many Americans don’t want to do for low to modest wages.” Naturally, in the end Trump came down on the side of the money he still needs and not the voters he doesn’t: “So now, the hardcore anti-immigrant Trump voters all feel they were lied to and betrayed by Donald.” However, predictably, most Trump supporters quickly fell back in line. (Personally, this feels like a false choice. We can simultaneous expand opportunities for American workers and recruit talent from abroad, making the best of both worlds. However, the H-1B program as it’s currently construed seems designed precisely to exploit foreign labor and put Americans at a disadvantage, so I come down on the side of reforming the program to make it fair to workers foreign and domestic rather than eliminating it or increasing it as is.) “Free speech” advocate Musk unironically blocked or deleted the accounts of several X users who disagreed with him. As usual, say anything you want as long as you don’t threaten Musk’s pathetically fragile ego. He later posted, “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B…Take a big step back and F*** YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.” Musk being here may not be the rousing endorsement of H-1B visas he thinks it is. Here again, the richest man in the world is unabashed dictating U.S. policy without the slightest inhibition or shame, which is why I’ll be referring to him as President Musk for the time being. It will be interesting to see which will ultimately wins out: Trump’s ego or his need of Musk’s money. At some point, there will be a falling out, and oh god is it going to be fun to watch. Recap of Promises Broken Folks voted for Trump because they believed that he would lower prices, restrict transgender rights, stop immigrants from taking American jobs, drain the swamp, and keep us out of foreign entanglements and wars. More generally, I’ve been told that they like that he’s a straight talker (ha!) and independently wealthy and so immune to corruption by moneyed interests (ha ha ha ha!). Three weeks out from his inauguration, how’s all that going?
Prices: As noted above, Trump has already indicated that he doesn’t expect to be able to lower prices. (Tariffs and deportations will skyrocket prices, though he’ll never admit it.)
Transgender Rights: Another campaign plank he has lost all interest in now that the election is over.
Immigration: By siding with the tech bros over the MAGA faithful, Trump is already on record supporting a program designed to replace American engineers with cheaper foreign employees. While the left tends to chalk up Trump’s immigration rhetoric to racism, it seems to have at least as much to do with his disgust for the poor. Educated, white-collar immigrants: good. Poor immigrants: bad. Got it.
Draining the Swamp: Trump’s cabinet is jam-packed with billionaires ready to twist the system to line their pockets. I’m sure that’s exactly what his voters were hoping for.
America First: Trump is already threatening aggression against Greenland and Panama for the sole purpose of stealing their land and resources. His nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is on record calling for the U.S. to be “the sheriff of the world.” If Trump keeps us out of war with authoritarian adversaries, it’s only because he intends to be one of them, working together to carve up the world between them.
Straight Talk: How many times have you quoted something Trump said to a supporter only to have them respond with some version of “What he really means is…”? Trump’s rhetoric is so rambling, ambiguous, hyperbolic, and self-contradictory that a Trump supporter can always hear precisely what they want to hear and make Trump into whomever they need him to be at the moment. This is why he seems “honest” to them: they can always find a way for what he says to align with what they feel is true. Now that his lies are becoming real-world policies, however, the denial is going to wear off fast. With luck, Trump voters will start to recognize that they’ve been conned, though I suspect most will just change what they believe to align with the Trump-of-the-moment and pretend that’s how they always felt. The first rule of Trump Club: Trump is always right. The second rule of Trump Club: every fact, belief, and ideal must bend to uphold the first rule.
Independent Wealth: Trump’s policies always follow the money. Trump is Musk’s lapdog precisely because Trump is never not for sale. Given the fact that he’s never paid for his own campaigns, can’t ever cover his fines, doesn’t pay many of his bills, and is selling the most campy, schlocky garbage imaginable with his name on it, it’s safe to say Trump is not nearly as wealthy as his followers like to believe.
So, Trump has broken nearly every campaign promise he was elected on before even taking office. I hope MAGA has fun getting to know the Trump who doesn’t need their votes.
Lastly, Trump supporters still laughably try to argue that Trump is a defender of democracy: one who plans to deploy the military against American citizens, use the justice system to attack his enemies, shut down the free press when it criticizes him, build mass deportation camps, and take land from neighboring allies by force.
For MAGA, “democracy, like “truth,” is whatever feels good at the moment, with fervent belief compensating for deep and profound ignorance. Can anyone explain to me what part of Trumpism is not fascist? How exactly is turning on everything that defines America “making America great again”? How can these morons not see what they’ve done? Quick Bites
President Musk, richest man in the world, recently called homeless “a propaganda word for violent drug addicts with severe mental illness.” Blaming the victim remains a surefire way to feel virtuous while ignoring human suffering.
Trump formerly advocated for a TikTok ban. Now he opposes it. By sheer coincidence, once of his major donors, Jeffrey Yass, is a major investor in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
After United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed, allegedly by Luigi Mangione, lots of people online openly celebrated the murder as a way to express their frustrations with a healthcare system, insurance companies in particular, that lets people die in the name of corporate profit. Many conservatives feigned outrage at those condoning such violence. For reference, compare the response of Republicans to Kyle Rittenhouse’s premeditated vigilante murder of two Black Lives Matters protestors in 2020.
Per Meidas+ “Cook Political reports that if Democrats has just gotten a total of 7,309 votes across three House districts (IA-1, CO-8, PA-7) they would be in control of the House. Trump won by 1.48% of the popular vote. But Republicans continue to insist the 2024 election was a massive landslide where they received a huge mandate from the American people to radically transform the government.” Keep your chin up, Democrats. We may be two different nations sharing one country, but this is far from “Trump’s America.”
In the past month Trump has threatened to take back the Panama Canal, to annex Greenland, and to make Canada the 51st state. Of course it’s all bullshit…unless you have an angry, ignorant mob tens of millions deep at your back and the world’s most powerful military at your disposal.
Trump’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) has proposed ending Daylight Savings Time… okay, fine. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Trump has proposed privatizing USPS because it’s broken…after decades of the GOP doing everything in their power to break it. President Musk went further, suggesting that the Post Office should be eliminated along with physical mail. If you think USPS is bad now (it’s actually pretty great, IMO), imagine it being run for profit and going the way of our healthcare, prison, and higher education systems, #enshittification. Under Trump, expect ever more of the government-for-all to be privatized into a government for those who can afford it.
All 17 new House Republican Committee Chairs are white men. Which is, strangely, what always seems to happen when we “stop considering race and gender” in hiring decisions.
Texas, which has some of the country’s tightest abortion restrictions and the second-to-worst reproductive and women’s healthcare, is now experiencing an epidemic of babies being abandoned in dumpsters. Good job, pro-lifers.
If you’re wondering why so many Trump supporters are still so pissed off even after winning it all, I recommend reading How My Ultra-Liberal Friend Got Brainwashed By MAGA, an insightful look into the addictive nature of hate. While I do think a lot of Trump supporters are addicted to hating, I think they are even more so addicted to being hated, a way of projecting their own sense of inferiority outward. Thoughts?
If any of your loved ones still think Trump is a stable genius, or a devout Christian, please ask them to read his Christmas day tirades in full.
With authoritarianism on the rise, anyone else interested in being a dissident should read the Atlantic article, “A Mindset for the Trump Era” as a starter guide (GIFT LINK).
*You might have noticed numerous mentions of Ron Filipkowski in this article. Ron writes the “Politics Today” bulletin for Meidas+ on Substack, which has proven an amazing resource for summarizing the daily madness. A paid subscription is well worth the money and I recommend checking it out!
Commentary
One thing I’d like to say in Trump’s defense: he didn’t mislead anyone who didn’t want to be misled. Every awful thing he’s doing now was promised on the campaign trail. He voiced his intentions loud and clear. However, because Trump tends to be either extremely vague or extremely bombastic in his speech, takes both sides of most issues, and generally can’t be taken seriously, his supporters are able to pick and choose what they want to believe about him to form their own personalized, bespoke Trump that’s more myth than reality. To any MAGAs starting to feel disappointed or betrayed, Trump didn’t deceive you. You just didn’t want to hear the truth. You didn’t want to believe it. We’re here because of your simple-mindedness, denial, and willful ignorance.
So when Trump chooses billionaires and tech bros over you, his faithful followers, you shouldn’t be surprised in the slightest. Why would Trump ever put MAGA before moolah? Trump’s supporters have proven time and time again that there’s nothing he can do to lose their support, no betrayal they won’t find a way to rationalize. And now he doesn’t even need their votes except as a threat to keep the rest of the GOP in line, though even that can be substituted with a sufficient quantity of Musk Bucks.
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